The exhibition artevida (artlife) examines the relationships between art and life in the late 1950s, 1960s 1970s, and early 1980s taking Brazilian, and particularly Rio de Janeiro, art practices from that period as a point of departure (Lygia Pape’s, Lygia Clark’s and Hélio Oiticica’s, among others) and takes places in four venues in Rio de Janeiro.

artevida is divided into four sections. artevida (corpo) (body), at Casa França-Brasil, comprises subsections around the self-portrait, the body in transformation, and the cut; the organic line and weave as alternatives to the grid and orthodox geometric abstraction; interactive, articulated, and participatory works. artevida (política) (politics), at Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, gathers works made in resistance to authoritarian regimes, around topics such as feminisms and racism, democracy and elections, maps and flags, war and violence, strikes and revolutions. artevida (arquivo) (archive), at Biblioteca do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, features selections from two artists’ archives, Recife-based Paulo Bruscky (curated by Cristiana Tejo) as well as Rosario-based Graciela Carnevale. artevida (parque) (park), at Escola de Artes Visuais do Parque Lage, Cavalariças and the surrounding park, includes works by Martha Araújo, Tsuruko Yamazaki and the single new commission of the exhibition, by Georges Adéagbo. mehr

artevidaproposes to establish connections and read certain art practices from the period through different concepts, references and frameworks beyond the well-known Eurocentric ones. The exhibition draws links and correspondences between multiple artworks and documents, challenging canonical histories and focusing on artists from the Global South, as well as on female artists. It does not attempt to write a single, coherent, progressive history, but rather more plural, open and diverse narratives, neither tracing genealogies between artists, nor identifying antecessors and predecessors, let alone to be encyclopedic. As such, artevida is more fragmented than monolithic, provisional than definite.

A catalogue will be published following the exhibition and a conference will be held on September 5–6 at Biblioteca Parque Estadual do Rio de Janeiro.

artevida is commissioned by the Rio de Janeiro State Culture Secretariat and organized by curators Adriano Pedrosa and Rodrigo Moura. The exhibition has been made possible through support by sponsors Itaú and Petrobras.